Russia not opposed to international monitoring of border in eastern Ukraine — expert

Western mass media hype up disinformation that Russia is against the border monitoring, Director of the Center for Current Politics Alexey Chesnakov said

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MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russia has never opposed international monitoring of a part of joint border in eastern Ukraine, Director of the Center for Current Politics Alexey Chesnakov said in an interview with TASS on Monday.

"Western mass media hype up disinformation that Russia is against the border monitoring. This is untrue. Russia backed the Minsk agreements, including the monitoring of the entire conflict zone, and also a part of the troublesome area of the border," Chesnakov said.

The expert stressed that Russia is providing all conditions for the international monitoring of the border with the self-proclaimed Donbass republics.

"Russia, as a mediator in the peaceful settlement in Ukraine, fully provides support to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission on fulfilling their mandate. Russia’s approach to the mandate of the UN force on accompanying and protecting the OSCE SMM includes their work also in the areas near the border," he said.

Since the beginning of the year, the SMM monitors have visited various parts of the Russian-Ukrainian border more than 600 times, including over 50 times in November. "So, in general this is almost twice per day," he said.

"Russia also insists that the SMM should be accompanied by the UN armed protection force during these trips," he expert stressed.